434,403 research outputs found
Optimization of Evolutionary Neural Networks Using Hybrid Learning Algorithms
Evolutionary artificial neural networks (EANNs) refer to a special class of
artificial neural networks (ANNs) in which evolution is another fundamental
form of adaptation in addition to learning. Evolutionary algorithms are used to
adapt the connection weights, network architecture and learning algorithms
according to the problem environment. Even though evolutionary algorithms are
well known as efficient global search algorithms, very often they miss the best
local solutions in the complex solution space. In this paper, we propose a
hybrid meta-heuristic learning approach combining evolutionary learning and
local search methods (using 1st and 2nd order error information) to improve the
learning and faster convergence obtained using a direct evolutionary approach.
The proposed technique is tested on three different chaotic time series and the
test results are compared with some popular neuro-fuzzy systems and a recently
developed cutting angle method of global optimization. Empirical results reveal
that the proposed technique is efficient in spite of the computational
complexity
Improving Exploration in Evolution Strategies for Deep Reinforcement Learning via a Population of Novelty-Seeking Agents
Evolution strategies (ES) are a family of black-box optimization algorithms
able to train deep neural networks roughly as well as Q-learning and policy
gradient methods on challenging deep reinforcement learning (RL) problems, but
are much faster (e.g. hours vs. days) because they parallelize better. However,
many RL problems require directed exploration because they have reward
functions that are sparse or deceptive (i.e. contain local optima), and it is
unknown how to encourage such exploration with ES. Here we show that algorithms
that have been invented to promote directed exploration in small-scale evolved
neural networks via populations of exploring agents, specifically novelty
search (NS) and quality diversity (QD) algorithms, can be hybridized with ES to
improve its performance on sparse or deceptive deep RL tasks, while retaining
scalability. Our experiments confirm that the resultant new algorithms, NS-ES
and two QD algorithms, NSR-ES and NSRA-ES, avoid local optima encountered by ES
to achieve higher performance on Atari and simulated robots learning to walk
around a deceptive trap. This paper thus introduces a family of fast, scalable
algorithms for reinforcement learning that are capable of directed exploration.
It also adds this new family of exploration algorithms to the RL toolbox and
raises the interesting possibility that analogous algorithms with multiple
simultaneous paths of exploration might also combine well with existing RL
algorithms outside ES
What Can We Learn Privately?
Learning problems form an important category of computational tasks that
generalizes many of the computations researchers apply to large real-life data
sets. We ask: what concept classes can be learned privately, namely, by an
algorithm whose output does not depend too heavily on any one input or specific
training example? More precisely, we investigate learning algorithms that
satisfy differential privacy, a notion that provides strong confidentiality
guarantees in contexts where aggregate information is released about a database
containing sensitive information about individuals. We demonstrate that,
ignoring computational constraints, it is possible to privately agnostically
learn any concept class using a sample size approximately logarithmic in the
cardinality of the concept class. Therefore, almost anything learnable is
learnable privately: specifically, if a concept class is learnable by a
(non-private) algorithm with polynomial sample complexity and output size, then
it can be learned privately using a polynomial number of samples. We also
present a computationally efficient private PAC learner for the class of parity
functions. Local (or randomized response) algorithms are a practical class of
private algorithms that have received extensive investigation. We provide a
precise characterization of local private learning algorithms. We show that a
concept class is learnable by a local algorithm if and only if it is learnable
in the statistical query (SQ) model. Finally, we present a separation between
the power of interactive and noninteractive local learning algorithms.Comment: 35 pages, 2 figure
Relax and Localize: From Value to Algorithms
We show a principled way of deriving online learning algorithms from a
minimax analysis. Various upper bounds on the minimax value, previously thought
to be non-constructive, are shown to yield algorithms. This allows us to
seamlessly recover known methods and to derive new ones. Our framework also
captures such "unorthodox" methods as Follow the Perturbed Leader and the R^2
forecaster. We emphasize that understanding the inherent complexity of the
learning problem leads to the development of algorithms.
We define local sequential Rademacher complexities and associated algorithms
that allow us to obtain faster rates in online learning, similarly to
statistical learning theory. Based on these localized complexities we build a
general adaptive method that can take advantage of the suboptimality of the
observed sequence.
We present a number of new algorithms, including a family of randomized
methods that use the idea of a "random playout". Several new versions of the
Follow-the-Perturbed-Leader algorithms are presented, as well as methods based
on the Littlestone's dimension, efficient methods for matrix completion with
trace norm, and algorithms for the problems of transductive learning and
prediction with static experts
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